Selby will miss nine games, then play for KU

Posted on: November 19, 2010 10:32 pm

The NCAA announced late Friday that Kansas freshman Josh Selby must sit out nine regular season games and repay $5,757.58 in impermissible benefits to the charity of his choice before being allowed to play for the Jayhawks.

Selby's recruitment was filled with red flags.

The 6-foot-2 combo guard committed to Tennessee in 2008, then famously decommitted in the summer of 2009. He was seen driving a Mercedes the week before he committed to Kansas, and Carmelo Anthony's business manager served as an advisor in the latter part of the recruiting process, all of which led to Selby's amateur status being scrutinized by the NCAA.

Now, after a lengthy investigation, there's a ruling.

It suggests Selby will make his debut Dec. 18 against Southern California.

Rivals.com ranked Selby as the top overall prospect nationally in the Class of 2010.

Selby will miss nine games, then play for KU

How accurate is the statement "seen driving a Mercedes"? My understanding was he was in a Mercedes, but not necessarily the driver. Other thing, was this his? or was it a rental? Do you think he drove from his home, or from an airport. Is limo service for other players at the airport seen as benefit? or is it a recruiting tool? Better yet, i am sure Kansas would have really impressed him with a Smart Car rental.

Selby will miss nine games, then play for KU

Comparing the Kansas issue to the Kentucky issue is dependance on unrelated anecdotes, and would cost you points in a true debate.

As I see this coming down, it's less about Kansas than it is about the people who took a leadership role in Selby's life. He's a young guy, comes from an environment where steering means more than just getting behind the wheel of a Mercedes.

The people who are to blame are the ones who see profit from promoting the principle of "whatever it takes" to help add that $10 million or so to the university's coffers by finishing in the Final 4. The other millions connect to the ESPN and Fox weekend contracts, millions more from other sources.

The coach is the public face of leadership on the program and has major impact on recruiting. All that is true. But irresponsible recruiting is the fault of the system in general. It's been going on since the 40s, maybe even longer if you go back to when the king married the princess in olden days.

I am not blaming KU for this and I am not blaming the coach, maybe even the player. The shysters who do this sort of thing aren't driven by our rules of ethics and respect. All they do is give us what we want -- national contenders. You could be an Evansville alumnus. We aren't quite as accustomed to this.

Patty2
Since: Sep 16, 2010

Posted on: November 22, 2010 1:03 am

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Since: Aug 24, 2006

Posted on: November 21, 2010 9:04 pm

Selby will miss nine games, then play for KU

Apparently, ItIzWhatItIz should be coaching basketball for an elite program with his observation from the televsion screen.

Since: Aug 19, 2006

Posted on: November 21, 2010 7:04 pm

Selby will miss nine games, then play for KU

now how is this kid going to pay back $5,757.58? where is that money going to come from ?

Since: Dec 5, 2006

Posted on: November 21, 2010 11:13 am

Selby will miss nine games, then play for KU

Gary, I am often a fan of your acerbic writing style. I get it that controversy gets you readership. What I do not get is your enduring dislike and dissing of all things KU. You laud some programs repeatedly while condemning others. Yet the KU coach, Bill Self, appears to run a clean, high integrity program year after year. Josh Selby is of a talent, reportedly, that his inclusion on KU's team will vault them into a national title contender. But the early results without Selby indicate that KU is already a title contender. Is it fear that makes you want to repress and diss this school? Is it personal history? Do you think we will not notice this water-torture treatment? Other contending programs must fear KU as a competitor. Yet KU and Bill Self have never had an entire season forfeit for playing an ineligible player. Kentucky's John Calipari has accomplished this feat twice. It has paid off for him as he simply moves on to a higher profile, better paying job each time. But Calipari rarely draws your poison pen. Is it William Wesley's sponsorship of Calipari that makes you pause?

KU is not the evil empire. The school graduates its scholar-athletes. It has owned up to its failures (see ticket scandal) and moved to prevent recurrence. It produces teams that play the game the right way, without taunting or dirty tactics. These teams play defense. Its top players are successfully playing at the next level. Am I recruiting for KU? Not exactly. KU, UNC, Duke, Michigan State and UCLA belong to a select group of schools who recruit nationally, teach fundamental basketball, promote integrity, play as a team and win championships. None of these deserve the treatment you give KU, Gary. Your juxtaposition of "seen driving a Mercedes" and week before committing to Kansas is intended to tar KU with providing the car or that the car was in Kansas. The facts scream to the contrary. Your use of "famously" in de-committing from Tennessee somehow indicates this is an extra-ordinary occurence in NCAA basketball, yet reading you daily advises to the contrary, with many recruits reopening their recruiting and none "famously". (It should be noted that de-committing from Tennessee can now be seen as an act of integrity given the open scorning of NCAA rules by Bruce Pearl.) Being a business advisor to one NBA player does not equate to bring an agent and the NCAA found nothing that Selby or KU had done to circumvent the rules, only that the mentorship of an non-family member is impermissible. This is a sad standard forced by so many who do cheat. But not KU. Yet you write to inflame your readers against KU. We called this "yellow journalism" in journalism school.

Yellow Journalism: Refers to the inflammatory tactics used by newspaperman William Randolph Hearst and others in drumming up support for war against Spain in the 1890s. In a general sense, it is applied to aggressive, lurid and irresponsible journalism. -

Since: Oct 3, 2010

Posted on: November 21, 2010 11:03 am

Selby will miss nine games, then play for KU

Especially since other highly regarded coaches in his profession like Tom Izzo and Mark Few have stated their opinions of him and believe him to be an excellent coach as well as recruiter.

68, hopefully UK didn't award you a degree. A smart person doesn't bash their co-worker. Just because Izzo and Few have allegedly stated that Cal is a good in-game coach doesn't mean that he is, or that they sincerely believe it. Cal is their peer and co-worker; for them to bash Cal would not be a smart move.

In other news, the facts present themselves as in the WVU game. So many obnoxious UK fans (not all UK fans are obnoxious), including you, focus on the offensive side of the ball. You obnoxious fans keep saying that UK lost because they couldn't shoot. It was Cal's responsibility to adjust in-game if his boys weren't able to produce positive results. He should've told his boys to stop bombing away, be patient, and find soft spots in the zone. He should've utilized his big men (especially Cousins) and have them flash to the soft spots of the zone and deliver the ball to them. Cousins is a very good passer that could have drawn the zone to him and delivered an appropriate pass if necessary. Cal had options, he just chose not to use them.

And, just for kicks.... I'll pretend that UK should have stayed with their strategy and bomb away; why was Cal lost on the defensive side of the ball. Down by double digits late in the second half, Cal decides to have his boys go to a passive zone defense a time or two down the floor. All WVU did was to run the shot clock down. Furthermore, Cal decided to apply pressure defense way too late in the game. WVU had one ball handler (a backup point guard at that) and they were picking up their dribble in trap-easy spots all night. Cal failed to recognize this. Don't give me that garbage that Cal was trying to protect his players from fouling out. You can't take the fouls with you -- either you win or you go home. You obnoxious UK fans have no really good answers for Cal's amateur defensive strategies against WVU, as Cal failed miserably.

ItIzWhatItIz

Since: Nov 1, 2009

Posted on: November 21, 2010 10:05 am

Selby will miss nine games, then play for KU

The fact of the matter on this issue is that the NCAA did an investigation and did not find any evidence that KU or Self did anything wrong otherwise the NCAA would have punished KU and Self. I think many of the posters on this blog forget that John Wall was in the same position merely a year ago. I'm not saying that Calipari or Kentucky did anything improper on Wall's recruitment. What I am saying is that if you want to criticize KU and Self, you must look at other schools and recruits through the same lens. I agree that it seems unfair that Selby gets to play after nine games and Kanter gets suspended for a year. However, the facts behind both situations are unknown to us in the blogging world. One last comment, Selby was not cruising around the Kansas plains in a Mercedes. The report was that he was riding in a Mercedes the week before signing with KU. Selby is not from Kansas. The likely scenario behind the whole Mercedes issue was it was probably owned by Carmelo Anthony's business agent who will sign Selby when he decides to go pro versus KU or Self supplied the car to him. This issue is not limited to College Basketball or something new.

Patty2
Since: Sep 16, 2010

Posted on: November 21, 2010 12:25 am

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Since: Jul 29, 2009

Posted on: November 21, 2010 12:12 am

Selby will miss nine games, then play for KU

Once again, we are all reminded what a cesspool college basketball has become. These fraudluent AAU teams that serve as nothing more than a bridge for athletes to showcase their talents to big-time programs are the tip of the iceburg. The NBA rule that you have to "attend college" for 1 year only adds fuel to this atrocity. I particularly love the story of this "student athlete" cruising around in a Mercedes on the Kansas plains. That doesn't set off questions: does it? ALL of these coaches are dirty to a certain degree, with the level of cheating dependent on that school's status in college basketball. The less the reputation, the more you're willing to look the other way.